Graduate Program - Master's Degree
The Electrical and Computer Engineering
department offers Masters programs that are designed to provide
technical expertise in a specific area of electrical and
computer engineering as well as breadth of knowledge in
supporting areas. Areas of concentrations include communication
and signal processing; computer engineering; control systems;
analog, mixed-signal, and RF electronic circuits;
optoelectronics and microelectronics; and power systems. An M.S.E.E.
degree can be earned by following either the thesis or
non-thesis options. The thesis option provides the students the
opportunity to work on a research project that culminates in the
publishing of a thesis. The non-thesis option is designed to
provide additional breadth in areas that support the chosen
focus area. It is also the goal of the program to graduate
engineers with effective problem solving and communication
skills.
Admission Requirements
Applicants should have
baccalaureate degrees in electrical and/or computer engineering
with a GPA of at least 3.0 out of 4.0. Applicants must have
satisfactory scores in the quantitative and verbal sections of
the Graduate Record Examinations general test.
Applicants with baccalaureate
degrees in fields closely related to electrical and computer
engineering (e.g. electronics, computer science, mathematics,
physics, etc.) may also be considered. If admitted, these
applicants may be required to take additional courses beyond
their Masters’ course requirements, as determined by the
Graduate Program Director.
Admission is based on the
overall background, motivation, and potential, as determined by
the department.
Early Entry to the Graduate School
Exceptional undergraduate
students of UNC Charlotte may be accepted into the graduate
program and begin work towards a Masters degree before
completion of their baccalaureate degree. An early entry student
may take up to six hours of graduate course work that will be
counted towards his/her undergraduate hours and also towards
his/her graduate degree, i.e., up to six credits of graduate
course work may be “double counted” for both baccalaureate and
graduate degrees.
An applicant may be accepted at
any time after completion of 75 or more hours, although it is
expected that close to 90 hours will have been earned by the
time the first graduate course is taken. To be accepted into
this program, an undergraduate student must have an overall GPA
of at least 3.2 and have earned satisfactory scores in the
Graduate Record Examinations general tests. If any early-entry
student does not meet the normal admission requirements of a
2.75 overall undergraduate GPA and a 3.0 junior-senior GPA at
the end of his/her baccalaureate degree, he/she will be
dismissed from the graduate program.
M.S.E.E. Degree Requirements
The M.S.E.E degree is awarded to
those students who complete 30 graduate credits under the
following prescribed rules:
-
Thesis option:
by satisfactorily completing 9 hours of thesis credits and
21 credits of graduate courses of which not more than 6
credits may be taken from outside the ECE department.
-
Non-thesis project
option: by satisfactorily completing 3 credits of
individualized project and 27 credits of graduate courses of
which not more than 9 credits may be taken from outside the
ECE department.
-
Non-thesis course-only
option: by satisfactorily completing 30 credits of
graduate courses with not more that 9 credits taken from
outside the ECE department. Students taking this option must
satisfactorily complete a comprehensive exam that has the
same contents as the Breadth exam of the ECE Ph.D.
qualifying
examinations.
Program Committee
Each
student must select a program committee that is composed of at
least 3 members of the graduate faculty, the majority of whom
must be members of the Electrical and Computer Engineering
department. The graduate program advisor generally serves as the
chairman of the committee.
Further information on the MSEE
degree may be found by clicking on the following links:
ECE Home
